#1 in the series.
We’ve started working our way west and plan to arrive at the Bears Ears Education Center in Utah on the first of May, about 1,800 miles away. We typically try to avoid interstates, especially I-40, and like to wander the backroads as much as we can. For this first leg, we chose to swing by Paris (Tennessee, not France!) to see my sister and then to Conway, Arkansas to drop by Patricia’s cousin. Stretching beyond that, we made a reservation at Birch Cove recreation area on Birch Lake north of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Arriving at Pat’s, we were surprised to learn my niece Sheri and her husband Brian were coming in too. We considered going to the World’s Biggest Fish Fry (Saturday’s attendance was almost 100,000 people!), opting instead for a home-cooked meal and time to visit.
We watched a spectacular sunset between twin thunderheads in the distance. Those anvil clouds were over Sikeston, MO, a hundred miles to the west!
Quite a pleasant evening, and tall tales were exchanged until Brian and I began discussing geosynchronous satellites, how they stay “up,” and their ability to remain in space fixed relative to the ground. As we delved deeper, everyone’s eyes started to glaze over and it was time for bed.
The trip to Charlotte and Larry’s was also pretty nice. We crossed the Mississippi at Dyersburg, cutting the corner of Missouri before entering the northeast corner of Arkansas. The area was still cleaning up from a tornado a couple of weeks back. Arriving in Conway, Larry directed us to their back yard, quite the pleasant and shady camp spot. We took a couple of hours for a little historical trip to Cadron and watched the barges move down the Arkansas river.
There were about 700-800 Cherokee that moved through here during the Trail of Tears forced removal. Sequoyah, also known as George Guess, had relocated near here from Tennessee before being forced to move again to Oklahoma.
More tall tales were told during that evening and we learned that we were missing the start of Conway’s Toad Suck Daze, an annual gathering of nearly 200,000 people!
Heading to Birch Cove, we spent the middle of the day at the Cherokee Nation’s capital city Tahlequah. We had visited here for the day last fall and toured their fantastic (and free!) museums. So we thought it would be nice to hang out for a few hours and explore the downtown and the city park. Low and behold, we just missed the Red Fern Festival, attended by over 30,000!
And in the Vintage Market, I found a thing I didn’t expect.
Priced at $40, it was worth every penny.
It feels to me like it may even capture the meaning of life.
All the things, in the one thing.
The one disadvantage of the “avoid tolls” and “avoid highways” switches on Apple Maps is that some of the roads were pretty rough. But we saw a lot of nice countryside and arrived to a nearly deserted campground on Birch Lake. A fine view and a nice evening to rest up.
So, we were successful in:
- Almost having fish and hushpuppies at the World’s Biggest Fish Fry in Paris, TN.
- Almost visiting Toad Suck Daze near Conway, AR.
- Nearly enjoying the Red Fern Festival in Tahlequah, OK!
Stats to date: 820 miles covered, 12mpg, 3 nights toward the goal.
To this point in the journey it all still feels like middle Tennessee countryside. Tomorrow we set the controls for Dodge City, we should begin to see a big change…
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